The Bookkeeper

Keeper of stories, guardian of the Tower story book.

For as long as he can remember, stories have been part of his life. Cradled in his father’s arms, he listened to stories of far away lands, Kings and Queens, castles and adventures. He would gaze up at his father with his big eyes and listen to him, reading aloud from a book in his one hand, while organising other books with the other.

His family had been Bookkeepers for generations and he had learned the art and skills from his father to become a Bookkeeper himself. He would sit on the floor, with a blanket curled around him in front of the large fireplace, while his father was doing his work as Bookkeeper.  The room was filled with books, and they covered every surface and wall in the circular stone room of the library. Surrounded by books, he was holding them in his hands, before he could even say a single word or crawl. They were so familiar to him that they felt like his family.

His mother had died in a great fire, when he was just a baby, were they lost everything they had. His father brought him to the only safe place he knew, the library he was working at.

As a boy, the Bookkeeper had a sheltered life in his father’s library. Surrounded by books he learned from his father. Together they would work from dusk till down by candlelight. Each story and each book was cared for with care and the library was the best in Londonium, the pride and joy of the King.

His father knew the books by touch and could feel the stories inside them. He guarded them with his life and would pick out books for the King to read. The ladies and gentleman would gasp, as the Bookkeeper would hand over the book to the King, as it was very difficult to please him. So it was a moment of uncertainty when the King began to read, until he would smile out of happiness as he enjoyed the story very much. It is always important to keep the King happy.

But life wasn’t that easy, as the King was always in need of new stories and books, so he would send his father to find new books and stories for him to read. These were difficult missions, as he often had to travel across the land and to foreign countries to find them and this meant long times when the Bookkeeper was left alone in the library, always worrying, when he would see his father again.

It was a big responsibility as well, as from a very young age, he had to take care of all the Bookkeeper responsibilities by himself.

One of his missions sent his father to Germany

The Tower storybook

An ancient book, as old as the Tower itself, it contains all the stories connected to the Tower.

It is very important to keep it safe and take care of all the stories inside as it contains all the stories from the past, all the memories and secrets connected to the Tower history.

The book is taken out for the Queen or King to read.

Michelle, the Librarian

The only person he can rely on is the Librarian Michelle, she is his best friends and they share the love for books. While he is especially skilled in collecting, caring and telling stories, she is very good in organising and caring for the books.

Like him, she doesn’t have a family, but she didn’t even have a place to live. She used to come to the library, sneak in to read the books, often she got locked in when the library closed, hiding behind one of the big bookshelves and reading by candle light until falling asleep in the save environment of the library.

The Bookkeeper had noticed Michelle but always pretended he didn’t know, because otherwise he would have needed to report her, they were very strict with these things. Until one day he started noticing that the library was always very tidy and organised, he always found the books he was looking for and often ones that he really enjoyed, but hadn’t seen in ages and thought they were lost within the library.

With all the great stories to care for and the pressure of pleasing the King, he often ended up in chaos, so when he noticed that he never had to look for anything anymore and books he was looking for appeared when he needed them, he started to wonder.

One night he stayed awake, waiting in the dark, suddenly he heard someone moving carefully and slowly through the library, he lit a match and there she was, Michelle.  She was just about to place books on his table, the ones he needed to find urgently for the King.

He gave her a job as Librarian and they’ve been friends ever since and Michelle looks after all the books and keeps the Bookkeeper organized.